The Braves released him after spring training in 1978, but
signed him again just a week later. However, six weeks and only
nine at bats later, the Braves gave him his release a second time.
Paciorek then signed with the Seattle Mariners, where he finished
the season hitting .299.

Following two solid years as a platoon player, Paciorek put
together a career season with the Mariners in the 1981 season.
Playing full-time for the only time in his career, Paciorek batted
.326, second in the American League, and was fourth in the
AL in slugging percentage. He earned his
only appearance to an All-Star team in 1981 and was
10th in the AL MVP race.

In the offseason, the Mariners traded Paciorek to the Chicago White
Sox for three players, none of whom would make an impact with
Seattle. Paciorek hit over .300 his first two years with the Sox,
and was part of Chicago's division championship team in 1983.

With the White Sox in 1984, he set an unusual MLB record.
Paciorek replaced Ron
Kittle in left field in the fourth inning of a May 8 game with
the Milwaukee Brewers - a game which then
proceeded to last 25 innings, becoming the longest game in Major
League history (as measured in time on the field). By the time the
game ended the following day, Paciorek had amassed five hits in
nine at bats, a record for most hits in a game by a player that did
not start the game which still stands (several players have had
four hits in a game as a substitute, most recently Quinton
McCracken of the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2002).[1],[2]

Tom was one of three brothers to play in the Majors. His younger
brother Jim played for the Milwaukee Brewers in 1987, while
older brother John played one game for the Houston Colt .45's (in which he went 3-3
and walked twice) in 1963.

After
baseball

Paciorek has served as a broadcaster for several years since retiring
as a player, with his most notable stint as the color
commentator alongside White Sox broadcaster Ken Harrelson, who
affectionately nicknamed him "Wimpy" on-air. He served that role
for Atlanta
Braves games on FSN South from 2001 to 2005, and some Detroit Tigers
games for FSN Detroit from 2001-2003. In 2006, he was
the color commentator for the Washington Nationals, but his
contract was not renewed for 2007 [3]. He is fondly
remembered amongst Nationals fans for his distinct pronunciation of
"Alfonso Soriano": "Eelfahnso Soriaahno".

In the spring of 2002, Paciorek told the Detroit Free Press in a
report that priest Gerald Shirilla molested him and three of his
four brothers while working as a teacher at St. Ladislaus in the
1960s. "I was molested by him for a period of four years," Paciorek
is reported to have said. "I would refer to them as attacks. I
would say there was at least a hundred of them." The former
All-Star said he didn't tell anyone because no one would have
believed him. "When you're a kid, and you're not able to
articulate, who's going to believe you?" he asked. "The church back
then was so powerful, there's nothing that a kid could do." [4]